Chapter 583
Damn it.
Team Leader Choi. Pyeongchang. Monster Wave.
My mind was a mess with those three sudden keywords.
But the footage filling the giant screen left me no time to think.
– KWAHHHH!
– KYAAAAAA!
– It’s… it’s an avalanche!
People screamed and fled.
Without even thinking to take off their ski gear, they stumbled, falling as a torrent of snow and shattered rocks poured down behind them.
– BOOM!
Dozens were swept away by the wave of snow, and with a roar, red blood splattered.
A building, collapsed by falling rocks, was swallowed in flames. And beyond those rolling fires, the source of it all loomed.
– RUMBLE!
Even though the sun had not yet set, the sky above was dark.
Black clouds settled on an unnamed mountain peak, and each time a blinding flash of light shot through, a massive vibration and explosion shook the air.
‘Monster Wave.’
I realized it instinctively. In that place where light and darkness clashed, a battle was deciding the fate of thousands.
And… Team Leader Choi, Butler Kim, and the Peace Guild hunters were risking their lives against a named monster.
An announcer’s face unseen, voice warped by static, filtered through.
– The government has declared the Pyeongchang region a disaster area and dispatched emergency support forces. Meanwhile, the Monster Wave in Busan…
There was no more time—or need—to listen.
Spinning around in urgency, I shouted to the hunters who were staring dumbfounded at the billboard on the high-rise.
“Wizards!”
“Y-yes?!”
“Wizards, step forward! We need to teleport to Pyeongchang! Right now!”
My shout, infused with inner energy, jolted several of the hunters as if waking them from a nightmare, and a few hesitantly raised their hands.
One A-rank wizard, six B-ranks. But their faces were grim even as they stepped forward.
“I—we’re sorry, but we can’t cast teleport with just us.”
“What?”
“We all just fought monsters, so our mana fatigue is severe. And we need to draw the teleportation circle, but in these conditions…”
The wizards trailed off as they looked around. Corpses of victims and monsters were everywhere. The road was in chaos, a total ruin.
Casting teleport—already notorious for being difficult even among top mages—was nearly impossible right now.
Watching, the Skeleton King spoke up, his face twisted.
“You idiotic… are you seriously saying now’s the time to worry about conditions? Do it! Shit. Fucking impossible.”
Despite barely suppressing his anger, the wizards gulped.
“B-but we really can’t. It’s too dangerous. Even if by some miracle we succeed, it’s over 250 kilometers from Busan to Pyeongchang. We can’t cover that in one go.”
“Just try! Do something!”
The Skeleton King’s shout was exactly what I wanted to say.
But I also knew the wizards weren’t just whining. They weren’t Magic Johnson.
The dark-skinned archmage who once sent me into a battlefield in Sichuan without a circle was probably somewhere across the continent now.
‘Shit.’
Sticky blood—mine or the monster’s, or both—dripped from my clenched fists.
“Isn’t there another way?”
A middle-aged hunter, apparently the highest rank, answered anxiously.
“We already contacted headquarters. They’re looking for top wizards in Busan who can cast teleport, but…”
His words faded, face clouded.
That told me enough. I asked again, pressing the superior for urgency.
‘Damn it.’
The enemy was a named monster. One on par with, or greater than, the Kraken.
If that video footage alone showed how powerful it was, how much longer could they last? How many would survive?
‘Just a bit more. Please, just hold on a bit longer.’
Praying for the impossible, I sat cross-legged.
Now, before we could find a wizard, I needed to recover even a bit of my spent strength.
Calming my boiling anxiety and anger, I closed my eyes. Darkness covered my vision.
At the same time, the faces of those fighting in even deeper darkness flashed through my mind.
‘Please… survive.’
Until I get there.
My desperate hope spread through my whole body and all my energy channels.
* * *
Its trunk, long and massive as an elephant’s, cleaved the air and deflected incoming magic and arrows, then rushed to the ground.
A deep shadow swept over everyone’s heads. Gritting his teeth, Choi Minwoo leaped forward and shouted,
“Scatter!”
Pa-pa-pa-pat!
Their figures darted away in all directions like the wind. It was the movement of top hunters, those at the very peak of the pyramid.
But even if everyone here was A-rank, what they faced was a named monster straight out of ancient myth.
– GRAAAAAAAH!
Behemoth.
A beast that rose from the depths of the abyss howled as it descended to the world. A powerful Fear that seized both soul and body swept through the hunters.
‘Gasp!’
“Hrk…!”
Two Peace Guild hunters outside the light of [Hero’s Soul] choked in terror.
Without vast experience and steely will, they would have fainted or gone mad on the spot.
But even the brief chaos caused by the Fear gave the beast exactly what it wanted.
“No!”
Before Choi Minwoo’s warning could ring out, Behemoth moved half a beat faster. And that decided the fate of the two.
Whoosh, crack!
A whirlwind from above slammed down on the ground.
Armor with high-level defensive magic, bodies honed to the limit, sheer vitality—none of it could withstand the overwhelming force that crushed and destroyed everything.
“Guh… kuh!”
With a dying gasp, dark red blood sprayed out. With bones, flesh, and even organs crushed, even the highest-level potion was useless.
For a split second, Choi Minwoo’s eyes met the fading gaze of the two.
‘Again… dead. Dead, and dead again.’
Crushed by the huge paw, impaled by the tusks, battered and smashed by the sweeping trunk.
That’s how more than half of the twenty-two hunters—including himself and Kim Hwajong—were wiped out.
If not for the potions they carried, even more would have died right before his eyes.
And even those potions were almost gone.
‘Damn it.’
Choi Minwoo gritted his teeth. At some point, the pain from a broken molar faded, and he didn’t even feel the blood trickling from his torn lips. All that was left was anger and determination.
Those two feelings alone kept Choi Minwoo from collapsing in despair. He conquered his fear and charged at Behemoth.
“Young Master!”
Whoosh!
Kim Hwajong’s desperate cry rang out behind him as he launched himself, mana powering his stride.
A piercing shout thundered above his head as he sped like a beam of light. With all his strength, Choi Minwoo twisted his body.
Whoosh, BOOM!
The ground shook. Snow flurries scattered, and broken rocks scraped his forehead. Blood blurred his vision, and in both hands his sword shone pure white.
Fwoooosh, slash!
The thick darkness split.
A blade of light cleaved through two pillar-like forelegs. From the split wounds, torrents of blood gushed forth.
Splaaash!
Drenched in green blood, Choi Minwoo exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
He wanted to dodge, but couldn’t.
Just like Behemoth’s two staggering legs, his own body was swaying after that brief, all-out attack.
“Two out of four legs…”
Choi Minwoo muttered quietly, his vision completely tinted green.
Fifteen hunters. And compared to the price of their lives, even all their money was cheap.
But Behemoth’s pained scream was at least satisfying.
– GRAAAAAAAH! Humans!
“…I hear you. Not that I understand.”
Choi Minwoo replied weakly.
The forgotten pain and exhaustion surged back all at once. The radiance of [Hero’s Soul] in his hands was already flickering, as if it might go out.
‘Just a little more. Just hang on a little longer.’
But that was asking too much.
The exhaustion that had started building with Song Cheon-woo’s fight had accumulated all the way to now. With the healer’s death and no potions left, bleeding and wounds he couldn’t stop were breaking him down.
Ssshhh.
The world tilted.
No, it was Choi Minwoo who was tilting.
As his vision slowly flipped, he saw something massive flying at him.
He felt the wind that would shatter his body, and closed his eyes.
BOOM!
With a deafening crash, the only light vanished.
Amid the dense black mist, clouds mixed with snow and flames rose up.
RUMBLE!
The mountain shook as never before at Behemoth’s most powerful attack yet.
The surviving Peace Guild hunters stared in despair at the scene.
Whatever hope they had clung to vanished along with the light.
Along with the young man who had led them from the front.
‘It’s over. Everything’s over.’
Everyone knew.
This world might not end, but at least the world as they knew it would end here today.
Yet at the end, their hearts were strangely calm.
At least they had fulfilled their duty. Their duty as people, as hunters.
They had poured out all the sense of mission they’d forgotten in their pursuit of wealth and fame, and had no regrets.
“Damn, I just signed my lease a few days ago.”
Someone’s mutter brought a weak laugh from the hunters.
“That crazy bastard.”
“If you’re scared, leave. No one’s stopping you.”
But no one moved. Not even the one who’d first spoken.
He stared at his trembling legs and spoke quietly.
“How could I leave? I’d rather die fighting.”
Everyone felt the same. Behind them were still thousands of people evacuating.
Their fallen comrades, and Choi Minwoo who had charged at Behemoth to the end, had died to protect those very people.
“We’re rich and cool, aren’t we?”
“Shame to die in weather like this. Can’t even see the sky with all this shitty fog.”
“But why did that elephant suddenly stop moving?”
Just as the handful who remained braced themselves to charge Behemoth—
“No one needs to die.”
With that quiet voice, the dense fog parted. What cut through the abyssal darkness wasn’t light, but flame.
KYAAAA!
A man appeared, blazing through the fog with fierce flames.
“At least, not you.”
In the trembling eyes of the hunters, the face of a middle-aged man with salt-and-pepper hair was reflected.
The appearance of Kim Hwajong, who had vanished into the fog after Choi Minwoo, was much changed from before.
“…Guild Master. Your arm—”
“It’s fine.”
With his left arm torn away, Kim Hwajong smiled wearily.
He’d lost an arm, but had managed to save something far more precious, and so could still smile.
He gently passed the person he’d been carrying in his right arm to the hunters and continued.
“You need to leave here, right now. With the young master.”
“B-but—”
“That’s a guild master’s order.”
Grrrrr.
The beast, realizing it had just missed its prey, let out a low laugh.
The smile vanished from Kim Hwajong’s lips.
“Go! Now!”
With that powerful shout, the hunters realized they had no choice.
They received the limp Choi Minwoo, gave a quick bow, and sped away.
Swish, swish, swish!
Their forms slid down the steep slope. Watching silently, Kim Hwajong’s lips curved into a faint smile again.
‘Be safe. You must survive.’
With a small prayer that would never reach, he turned. In his only remaining hand, the Infernal Flame burned.
“Come on, you fucking bastard.”
– GRAAAAAAAH!
Eyes blazing with fire, Kim Hwajong met the gaze of the beast.
Having sent everyone away, standing alone on the edge, the old butler began what might be his final incantation.
“Let the Infernal Flame descend upon this place.”
Hell Fire.
RUMBLE!